Padres Receive Unfortunate Michael King Prediction Ahead of Offseason

The San Diego Padres clobbered the Chicago Cubs, 8-0, on Tuesday to open up the postseason and take Game 1 of the wild-card round in dominant fashion.

One of the biggest reasons for the drubbing was none other than right-handed pitcher Michael King.

In a season that saw the Padres starting pitchers fail to keep up with the precedent that their MLB-best bullpen counterparts created, King was among the most effective, consistent and available.

This is partially why the New York Post's Jon Heyman delivered some unfortunate news regarding King and his contract with the Padres. The right-hander inked a three-year, $75 million deal this past offseason, but made just $9 million of the total in 2026 with an opt-out available ahead of 2027.

Heyman predicted that King will opt out of the remaining two years and $58 million on the table to test the free agency market. Though Heyman mentioned the kind of relationship he and the franchise have (that will likely be made stronger with continued dominance in October), he also discussed King's Rhode Island roots potentially playing a role if he were to depart.

King was born in Rochester, NY and went to high school in Rhode Island. He was drafted out of Boston College by the Miami Marlins and debuted for the New York Yankees towards the end of the 2019 campaign.

If an East Coast team gives King an offer he cannot refuse, Heyman sees his familiarity with the region as another selling point, especially with a Padres team that has some large contracts on the books for the next decade.

Through his dominant regular season, King had a career-high bWAR of 4.3, a career-high 185 innings pitched (32 starts) and his lowest ERA in two seasons (3.21). He has also proven to be one of the best in baseball when it comes to soft contact, ranking in the 86th percentile in terms of average exit velocity and the 89th percentile in limiting hard-hit balls (batted balls hit 95 mph or over).

It isn't just Heyman who believes that King's opt-out is imminent as ESPN's Jeff Passan predicted the same fate earlier this month. Passan also noted the $5 million buyout attached to King's deal which may be all the more reason to search for a new contract this winter.

"The 31-year-old King is the other candidate ... to stand first in line behind [Tarik] Skubal, and it makes sense for him to forgo the final two years and $58 million on his deal — particularly with the $5 million buyout he'd cash in," Passan wrote. "Will he opt-out: Yes."

King was already putting up numbers worthy of a new deal, but if his eight-strikeout, one-hit performance on Tuesday is any indication for what's to come in October, the right-hander should expect a massive deal soon enough.

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